The POS Software Blog
News from Tower Systems about locally made POS software for specialty local retailers.
We are grateful for the opportunity to be in Bali recently with 17 local Aussie retailers, meeting with potential suppliers, getting to see artisans in their workshops and getting to visit with some exciting retail businesses.
Here is a short video from us in which we show off three awesome retailers in Ubud and Seminyak, showing that there is plenty of retail inspiration in Bali.
Our advice to retailers re stocktake is first and foremost: never pay an outside party to do your stocktake and never do a stocktake outside of your POS software.
The most accurate stocktake result for any retail business is doing it yourself, using your POS software. The Tower Systems POS software offers easy to use and reliable stock facilities and workflow.
Last year (2022), we got together with one of the stocktake experts at Tower Systems to discuss this and answer common stocktake questions we are asked. Here’s the video.
Our help goes beyond this. We have written advice, and we offer personal training. We make stocktaking easy and reliable for local samall business retailers.
Over the last couple of weeks we have been offering our all of POS software customers 25% off the cost of POS software training. This offer is part of our end of financial year package of offers for our local indie retailer community.
We have pitched the discounted POS software training offer in our regular customer emails.
Here at Tower Systems our POS software customers have access to a comprehensive and fresh video training library for no cost. Plus, they have access to hundreds of up to date articles and written training in our knowledge base.
Some customers prefer to learn through one-on-one training. This is when there is a cost for training, and right now, to the end of the financial year, it’s 25% off.
We have a team of professional trainers for our POS software. They know retail and they know our software. Each session is tailored to the needs of the specific customer.
Note: prices can change. This is a moment in time comparison. Total cost of ownership of POS software is important for any retailer to consider.
The Xero accounting software integration with POS software from Tower Systems helps local independent retailers save time, save money, reduce mistakes and make better informed business decisions.
Using the Xero link with our POS software retailers can streamline their processes, connecting POS software and Xero accounting software, removing double entry and cutting mistakes.
The Tower Systems POS software offers:
The Xero accounting software solution offers:
The Tower Systems POS software Xero integration is a solution made for local small business retailers, to save time and money, to help nurture stronger and more valuable retail businesses.
Connect the Tower Systems POS software with Xero in minutes and keep everything in sync. Simply connect the tow and map your accounts. Our crew of retail experts can help;p you do this.
Once connected, your Tower systems POS software will upload your chosen key financial data to Xero – saving time on admin and cutting data mistakes.
Tower Systems is proud to deliver the advanced Xero POS integration local specialty retailers deserve for the complexities and competitiveness of modern retail.
Tower Systems is grateful to support thousands of Australian and New Zealand retail stores with our comprehensive POS software. We give retailers the tools they can understand and use to run more valuable, enjoyable and successful local retail businesses.
Tower Systems only serves local specialty retailers. This ensures that every customer matters. Are are thankful that more than 3,500 retailers have already chosen to partner with us.
Our service is local, from Aussie and NZ based retail experts. Our software is local, too, made here, for you.
The Xero integration with our POS software is one example of the value of integration relationships that we bring to life for our local indie retailer community.
June, July and August are tough months in many local shops, independent shops. There is no major season, and, it’s winter. Brrr. Some who have been in retail for ages call these months the months of death.
This year could be tougher because of interest rates and the penchant in newsrooms for stories negative about the economy and the future.
Here are 7 ways you could make these three months work for you.
Our point with this list is that this valley, June, July and August, separates retailers. Those who do well tend to be engaged, they tend to embrace opportunities to make their own success.
What’s this got to do with POS software? Plenty. Here at Tower Systems we serve a community of local indie specialty retailers. Our interest in their businesses reaches beyond our software and for they use it. We share ideas and inspirations to support their businesses because we want local indie retail to thrive.
Have you read a blog post or article from a company recently and thought about how generic and bland it was. It’s happening more thanks too AI. AI bland we call it.
AI tech is grinding out content fast and doing do by regurgitating what others have written and trying to make it sound new and from the voice of the person giving the AI machine the prompts. The blandness is one of several AI tells. You can see it in the words, the formatting and more. Ho-hum.
It’s okay, businesses can use AI for their posts if they want. But, here at Tower Systems, we prefer the real, the human, the emotional, the reality with feelings, because, after all, local indie retail is all about feelings. You know what we mean 0- you walk into a local shop and there’s a warm smile from a local, locally relevant conversation, useful local knowledge and engagement with the local community that locals understand.
AI doesn’t get any of this, because it has no feelings, no local roots. It can only fake it so far.
In our POS software we reflect the humanity of what we do by bringing to life enhancements our customers ask us for. Every enhancement we deliver in response to a customer requests, and votes from their colleagues, enhances the humanity of our software, the connection our software delivers to our customers, to0 its users.
Here at Tower Systems, our knowledge base articles are written by humans, our videos are made by humans, our software is written by humans. We do all this in service of local indie specialty retail – a very human local retail endeavour. Locals feel the heartbeat and that’s something that AI cannot give you.
So, next time you read something from a company and it feels bland or middle of the road, wonder to yourself if it is AI bland, wonder if the company cared about the reader in a way that they used an AI bot to write for you rather than having a human from their team write it.
What are we in small business if we are not ourselves, real, human, authentic, and in the moment? Sure, AI can provide useful tools, but when it comes to communication abut who we are, what we do and why it matters to customers and prospective customers, being human is our difference.
Small and independent retailers can sometimes feel helpless when a big national retailer opens up nearby. There is no match for their range, buying power, advertising coverage or even news coverage.
The sheer size of a national competitor is what scares many smaller retailers. It can feel overwhelming.
Here at Tower Systems, all of our customers are local small business retailers, indie retailers, because that is the community we seek out.
Here are 5 practical tips for small businesses on how to face and deal with a national retailer moving into the area:
1. Don’t compete. By not talking about the competitor, pricing against them or pitching your business in any way, you separate yourself. While they may have similar products, it is unlikely that they are targeting your specific business so why target them? Focus instead on your own business. Not competing should include not advertising price comparisons, not focusing on the competitor at staff meetings, not expanding your range to sell more of what they sell and not obsessing about them.
Know why you are different and lean more into that, and, it’s likely that price is not a significant difference in your mind.
If you know why customers shop with you, you have the opportunity of not giving up margin out of fear.
2. Run a better business. From the moment you hear about a new national retailer coming to town, look at every aspect of your business for opportunities for improvement. From the back room to the front counter fine tune your processes, employee training, stock buying and the look of the business. Dramatically improve your business from the inside out. This will improve your business health and help you weather challenges which may lie ahead.
Too often, independent retailers wait until the national retailer is open to react. This is probably a year or two too late.
3. Be unique. Look for ways to make your business unique. It could be on product range, operating hours, add-on services or something else. Embrace any opportunity to make your business unique.
Even a unique niche range of products can give you traffic a big competitor will not chase. Try and focus on products which require a level of retail skill and knowledge to sell – national retailers have challenges hiring and retaining retail employees with specialist knowledge and skills.
4. Engage the community. Like, really engage. Support local groups, speak at functions, get known as someone and a business who care deeply about the local community. Subtly make the connection that you are fortunate to be able to help because of your local business.
Being smaller and independent you are better able to personally engage with the community. You and your team are the business whereas a national chain will always be the corporate. They can throw money around locally, you can throw time, knowledge and more flexible assistance.
5. Tell your stories. Your retail narrative, your stories, connect you with the local community. Tell these through the people you contact, your own blog, a Facebook page and in the pages of the local newspaper. Tell human stories about your business, the people who work in it and the local stories which connect with it.
Your stories could be about local community connection, convenience of shopping, commitment to range, personal customer service, product niche knowledge … there are many different narratives with which an independent retailer can connect. It is important that one you have your narrative you stick to is, that it inhabits your decisions, marketing and public presentation.
Local indie retailers can compete against with any big business by not acting as a big business would. This is the key. Be yourself. Have faith in yourself. Sell yourself.
Now, why is a POS software company sharing something like this? That’s easy – we care about our customers, we care about local indie retail. We’ll embrace any opportunity to help local indie retailers shine.
We get it. Sometimes, the road ahead can have so many obstacles and the air is so heavy with fog that a pathway can be hard to find.
In any indie local retail business you can collect a ton of obstacles and feel surrounded by fog if you are drawn to the end is near talk and have your business rooted deep in out of date practices.
If you feel like closing is your only option, we are writing this for you.
Stop. Take a month to first of all breathe. That;’s important, breathe, take in the outdoors. Find a calm. Then, collect data – your sales data, your financial situation information, local economic circumstances. Gather all the facts together, and go over them – not the emotion, the hearsay – stick to the evidence, the facts.
Usually, in the evidence, there is opportunity. The challenge is that often opportunities cannot be seen because of the noise of obstacles and fog. That’s why we say stop, get your evidence and sit with that.
Our hope is that in your evidence there is sufficient opportunity to find a path forward for the business, and for you.
Turning a situation away from closing is my only option can only come about by one or a mix of:
It’s pretty simple when you read the list. The hard part is the action, that’s where retailers can get stuck. We mean, attracting new shoppers is difficult, especially in small business where the levers we can pull are limited.
The best way to attract new shoppers in any local retail business is to introduce a completely new product category, to represent it well in-store and to pitch it appropriately on social media.
Your existing suppliers won’t have helpful advice in this area because they are your existing suppliers. You have to look outside your current pool of advice and influencers and look outside what people know your shop for. Choose a category that is fun, appealing and for sure traffic-generating. Ideally, it will be something not easily found locally, something that interests you. That last bit is important because one way to drive traffic for a new category is to be a bit of a local expert.
We get that it may be challenging to find the energy and money to make things work with a new category. If the survival of your business matters you’ll find a way.
The best way to get existing shoppers spending more is through a smart loyalty mechanic and having a shop people enjoy.
The best way to make more from what you sell is by charging more or buying better, or both. Don’t go crazy. A modest increase in GP% could work wonders.
Key to the success of any turnaround is starting on the road early, before fog and debris block the past. It’s important to all of us who own businesses to be looking well ahead, over the horizon, cultivating assets we can deploy when we think change may be needed.
Before we leave the topic we want to touch on cutting costs. That’s a common approach to saving a business. While it could help, rarely in our experiences serving many local indie retailers have we seen cutting costs alone be enough to save a business. Sure, it can be in the mix, but it alone is not enough. And the truth is that a well run business has trimmed costs already.
If you think closing your shop is the only option, reach out. There are plenty of indie retailers who will listen, and offer advice if you’d like it.
You are not alone.
Oh, and this all matters to us because we only serve local indie retailers, and we own and run local indie retail businesses ourselves.
Okay so today is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday. We’re taking a break – but fear not! If you have an urgent query our after-hours crew is there for you.
We are grateful to have hosted another meeting of users of our software. This was done yesterday, via Zoom – a platform plenty of our POS software customer prefer.
At this meeting we previewed our next software update, sought feedback on some development plans in the pre-planning stage. We also had plenty of time for questions, which is the real value of meetings like this for plenty.
We know that being accessible is important to our local small business retailer community. It’s why we do these sessions regularly, and why they are open to all customers, and why there is no cost whatsoever.
To ensure we can answer as many questions as possible we had people there from development, support as well as senior management.
Back in the day, decades ago, in-person user meetings were a key feature from engages software companies. They still are today, but online, saving everyone time as well as travel costs.
We are grateful to the customers who joined in yesterday and those who watched later on video. Feedback from sessions like this is vital to our future.
Local indie clothing stores can rely on the clothing shop POS software from Tower Systems to help them compete with the big players in the fashion space.
Using our clothing shop POS software, retailers can:
This clothing shop POS software is made locally for local retail businesses. It’s designed for local independent retail, not chain stores. This is important as the needs of local independent retailers are different to the needs of chain stores, especially when it comes to clothing shop POS software.
Embedded in this software is a loyalty solution designed to serve clothing retailers in a fresh way, a way shoppers love, a way that is likely to encourage them back into the shop sooner.
This clothing shop POS software is customisable too with plenty of options for setting look and feel and other factors.
The software connects with several roster solutions as well as a digital receipt platform, Xero and other integrations that help local clothing shops shine.
A feature of the Tower Systems clothing shop POS software is the insights dashboard. This is a visual platform that curates key retail performance data and presents it in a format designed to assist decision-making.
Whether your business is a fashion boutique, a school uniform shop0, a local dressmaker shop, a kids clothing shop or a local fast fashion shops, this POS software has facilities ready for use that can assist to facilitate efficiency, accuracy and enjoyment in, with and from the business.
Easily see what’s working, and what’s not. Spot upward and downward trends early, and leverage those insights for the benefit of the business.
This software continues to evolve thanks to tight engagement between our Tower Systems software development team and our customer community. There is a transparent process for suggesting enhancements and customers voting on these suggestions.
Only you can decide if this software is right for you. Work out what’s important to you and compare your needs list with what this software offers in a personal and obligation-free demonstration. The Tower Systems sales team will not pressure you, ever.
Call 1300 662 957 in Australia or 0800 444 367 in New Zealand. Or, email sales@towwersystems.com.au. Or, check out: https://www.towersystems.com.au/fashion.html
This clothing shop POS software seeks to help local clothing shops thrive.
In March, Tower Systems released new POS software for specialty retailers offering an integration to ChatGPT from OpenAI, a leading AI tool.
In this first cut of AI integration in POS software, using the optional integration, ChatGPT can generate for extended product descriptions and web descriptions. This is based on the product title that you enter. We have tested it with a range of products. It is a significant time saver.
Customers are telling us they love the POS software ChjatGPT integration. The feedback includes:
Retailers are providing wonderful feedback on their use of ChatGPT from within the Tower Systems POS software.
Retailers who want to type their own descriptions can still do this. The integration is for those looking for product descriptions likely to capture the attention of shoppers, especially those shopping online.
The Tower software development team has more AI integration options being prepared as this technology offers many business benefits.
There is considerable debate about AI and its use. “We don’t see our job as being a controller of access to AI. We build tools and right now this is a tool more snugnesses want to play with. Hence, this integration.” Mark Fletcher CEO of Tower Systems commented.
“It’s important that we provide retailers with tools they can use to be more efficient, more competitive. AI offers such tools in a rapidly changing retail landscape. We are grateful to have been an early adopter of this opportunity for our local small business retailer community”
The ChatGPT POS software integration is available free to all Tower Systems POS software customers across a range of specialty retail marketplaces.
Tower Systems currently serves in excess of 3,000 small business retailers with POS software. The software rents for a modest monthly fee with no lock-in contract and no cancellation penalty.
The ChatGPT integration is only part of the AI engagement opportunity for Tower Systems POS software customers.
The Insights Dashboard in our POS software serves up curated data in a thoughtfully selected range of topics sure to interest any retailer. The software does this work in the background with little human engagement.
In one retail business recently, the software reported on the financial value to the business of what’s not working. Like any engaged retail business owner, if you show them, prove to them, using their own business data, what’s not working, they will act. This retailer did. That’s where the $20,000 comes in. They converted dead stock to cash and replaced the space and inventory investment with stock that is working.
The insight was serves by our POS software. It was pushed to the retailer. They didn’t have to seek it out or wonder if there was something to see. No, our software figured this is interesting and important, here it is, here is a problem, and an opportunity.
That’s what the Insights Dashboard in our Tower Systems POS software is all about. The insights are genuine, up to date and for your business, based on your data. The software seeks to help you leverage your own data to make more money in your business, make fewer mistakes andiron a more successful and enjoyable business.
While some POS software focusses on transacting, we go further, we go beyond transacting and we do this to help deliver genuine value to our customers.
The Insights Dashboard in the Tower Systems POS software is designed by and for retailers. It is outcome-focussed, targeting actionable data that any retailer, regardless of business training, will understand and leverage for the success of their businesses.
Since the launch of the Insights Dashboard we have heard from retailers about their use of it, what it’s showing them, the actions they have taken. It is wonderful hearing these stories as each one shows that POS software can be more than a glorified cash register, that it can make a real difference to the performance of a local retail business.
Here at Tower Systems our focus is on helping local indie retailers run more enjoyable and successful businesses – beyond a marketing pitch, we are keen for them to live it, feel it, and want more. It’s what we want ourselves in retail businesses we own and run.
Local small business retailers are short on time and challenges in competing with well-resourced big businesses.
The ChatGPT AI integration delivered by Tower Systems in its local specialty retail POS software early this year is being used by small business retailers to create for search friendly product descriptions.
Using this optional and free facility, retailers are able to describe products faster and in search friendly terms. Here’s a short video we made for our customers to show how it works:
No, we’re not going all AI is replacing the world on our customers. Rather, we are providing access to optional time saving tools. Feedback from our local retailer community has been wonderful, for which we are thankful.
The videos we have created promoting specialty retail channels are working a treat. here are some of the videos we have done for channels in which we serve:
Recent Comments